On
a good day
Saturday 8 July 2000
On a good day you
… go to bed at 8pm the night before, in a bed with a newly aired futon and clean sheets, and sleep, sans cat and sans childwakinginthemiddleofthenight, until nearly 7am the next morning.
… are wakening by a “Hello Daddy” and a small warm body climbing into bed to snuggle down next to you and drink his morning bottle.
… rise to a spring-like day in the middle of winter, all blueskies and sun and bumblebees floating from flower to flower.
… get some books out of the library, and sit there on a cushion, reading the one about the “Little Yellow Digger as the Zoo” while your son sits in rapt attention and demands it's read again immediately afterwards.
… get to go and play basketball.
… win your basketball game in a way that doesn't matter that you didn't play well because the team played very well.
… come home in the warm soft afternoon sun to find your wife and son sitting outside on the lawn in a tent reading books together.
… take them down to the beach, with a takeaway hot coffee, for a walk along the sand and play in the playground watching the other kids and families and dogs, and seeing the boats and ships sail up the harbour in the stillness of the late afternoon.
… come home and take the time to read the newspaper from cover to cover without being disturbed once.
… have homemade stew and bread and butter for dinner, washed down with a glass of cold beer.
… take your son outside wrapped up in his pyjamas to say goodnight to the stars and the crescent moon hanging in the sky straight overhead.
… have some cinnamon teacake and a glass of milk for dessert.
… have a whole lazy Sunday to look forward to.